How has your research influenced the planning and creation of your promotional materials including your UCAS Personal Statement?
At the start of the unit we produced a range of research to help us with our university application, this will include things like university (requirement, course contents etc.), skill breakdowns for the UCAS statement and career options.
We used the skills audit sheet to write about our skills and the level we are currently at and I used this to understand my skills in a clear way for my statement, sometimes it can be difficult if you just have to think about it straight away so it was a lot easier to refer back to this when I was thinking about what I’m good at.
To understand what different type of portfolios need to have we researched a range of portfolios to see what I would need to include and what providers I could use. I found two professional portfolios and a student portfolio to help me with understanding what would be needed (Links to the portfolios below):
https://armandserrano.artstation.com/
https://jolyont.carbonmade.com/
https://lavendertowne.wixsite.com/lavendertown
As well as this I watched many youtube videos in my own time about applying to university, the best video out of them was this calarts portfolio video by Anya Butler on youtube, she is one of my favourite artists and youtubers because of her art work, aesthetic and her video content. While I’m not applying for an animation course it says a lot about the order your portfolio should go in along with the contents , something which is helpful for all portfolios, not just animation ones.
As well as this I reviewed my portfolio to see what I needed to add. This influenced what I did for my cyberpunk project as I needed more character work.
This is how my portfolio looks now that I’ve filled up the page, as of now it contains 37 pieces of work that spread out through all 7 sections. It has lots more work in it that ranges in the areas that were empty.
Reflect on your learning and skills – What you have done and why you have done it?
When researching for my portfolio I kept a lot of things in mind that I noticed when looking at peoples portfolios and reflecting on their own.
https://armandserrano.artstation.com/
Armand Serrano’s portfolio is what made me realise I should keep my portfolio neat and tidy with sections and also have an all section A cohesive portfolio is nice to look at so it isn’t jarring when you come across everything fighting for attention on the front page. If people want see a whole overview they can click on all if they want too.
https://jolyont.carbonmade.com/
JolyonT’s portfolio made me realise my art needed to stand out against the portfolio or you wouldn’t be able to see dark art against art station very well and it will make your portfolio look boring and difficult to see.
https://lavendertowne.wixsite.com/lavendertowne
Haley’s portfolio showed me that it is okay to show off stylized work that you enjoyed working in your own time along with art studies that show technical skill. One thing I will say about her portfolio is that I don’t think there is enough realism here, I took that thought and made sure to add that into my portfolio.
I took elements from each portfolio, then I took notes on what I didn’t think worked and put them all together so that I could create the best portfolio I can.
Sum up your ongoing evaluations/opinions/reflections that you documented during the project.
The project itself has taught me a lot about creating a good standard portfolio, portfolio creation is something that I used to find really scary, I was putting my art online in communities but I hadn’t actually made something that I wanted or needed to be seen as a portfolio.
Whenever I saw a professional portfolio online I used to think they were the best things ever and I would think that I couldn’t ever do something like that. The whole unit broke down the process of how to make a good portfolio to be proud of for a university application. Analyzing different level portfolios really helped me reflect and understand what I needed to do to make the best portfolio possible.
As well as this it really challenged me to do more work for my portfolio, not just work that I wanted to do but also work I needed to show off skill, I have done a lot more still life and work to show skill in general because of this.
The unit itself has been really helpful in teaching about portfolios which is something needed not just for university but also job applications as well.
What Promotional work do you feel has worked well and what did not work well? What could you do to improve your work?
I think in general all of my work has shown what I am able to create, something I don’t think worked well was the presentation of my cyberpunk ideas generation, I just took all of the hair images and put them together on a white sheet, normally it would have been fine but I wanted the ideas gen to be separate since I liked it a lot, next time I think I would make the presentation more than a white background.
I think my environment and character folders turned out really well after the cyberpunk and western units. My still life was bulked out as well thanks to the art classes.
Reflect on peer and tutor feedback.
I received a range of feedback on my personal statement when it comes to my grammar and what to include. I was also helped with what to cut as I ended up going 1000 words over the limit so I had some help with what to cut out. I was given advice on what to priorities since I had to choose between teaching English to foreign students or being a cadet.
What have you learnt during this project?:
The main thing I learnt on this unit was how to create a good digital portfolio, I learnt a lot about how to make on online, what to include, how to organise it and what order it should go in.
I’ve learnt about a range of universities and how to apply to them through UCAS, it’s a scary process but after having it broken down it’s simple.
I learnt about how to write a good personal statement for university, the lady gave me lots of feedback to help me structure out my statement, mainly with what to include and which order to put it in.
Roxanne's Development Blog (Second year) 